Effect of judgment for damages in trover; priority

When a verdict for damages is rendered in favor of a plaintiff in trover and a judgment is entered thereon, the verdict and judgment shall not have the effect of changing the property which is the subject matter of the action or of vesting the same in the defendant in the action until after the damages and costs recovered by the plaintiff in the action are paid off and discharged. However, the verdict and judgment shall subject the property to sale under and by virtue of an execution issuing upon the judgment in the action of trover and shall make the property liable to the payment of the damages and costs recovered in the action in preference to any other judgment, order, or decree against the defendant in such action. History. Laws 1830, Cobb’s 1851 Digest, p. 499; Code 1863, § 3504; Code 1868, § 3527; Code 1873, § 3585; Code 1882, § 3585; Civil Code 1895, § 5358; Civil Code 1910, § 5953; Code 1933, § 110-514. 44-12-157. Effect of destruction of or injury to property on defendant’s liability. Pending a trover action, the death or destruction of or material injury to the property in dispute shall be no defense to a mere wrongdoer. If the defendant is a bona fide claimant and the injury arises from an act of God and is in no way the result of the defendant’s conduct, the jury may take the death, destruction, or material injury of the property into 255 T.44, C.12, A.4, P.2 consideration; but in no case shall such an event cast the costs upon the plaintiff. History. Orig. Code 1863, § 3011; Code 1868, § 3023; Code 1882, § 3078; Civil Code 1895, § 3919; Civil Code 1910, § 4516; Code 1933, § 107-107.